Social Welfare

The social protection minister has come under further pressure to justify why legislation brought in response to a Supreme Court ruling will remove social welfare entitlements of divorced and separated lone parents. The Bereaved Partner's Pension Bill 2025 has been introduced by the government in re

Social welfare legislation introduced in response to a landmark Supreme Court judgment proposes to make unnecessary changes which "may be inconsistent" with the judgment itself, FLAC has said. The Social Welfare (Bereaved Partner's Pension) Bill 2025 was drawn up by the government in response to the

Northern Ireland’s High Court has dismissed a woman’s challenge to her exclusion from receipt of Cost of Living Payments (COLPs) during a period when she was housed in temporary accommodation and was in receipt of Housing Benefit. Delivering judgment for the High Court, Mr Justice David

Legislation is to be brought forward to give effect to the Supreme Court decision extending access to the widow's, widower's and surviving civil partner's contributory pension to unmarried couples. The court ruled just over a year ago in John O'Meara & Ors v The Minister for Social Protection, I

The Supreme Court has dismissed the appeal of a mother whose carer’s allowance was reduced on a means-tested basis when her son’s father began residing with their family. Delivering the lead judgment for the Supreme Court, Mr Justice Maurice Collins emphasised that the Supreme Court&rsqu

Parents can now avail of nine weeks' paid parent's leave and benefit. Secondary legislation in force from yesterday uses powers under the Parent's Leave and Benefit Act 2019 to extend the number of weeks that parents can take time off work with financial support from the State from seven weeks to ni

The High Court has upheld a decision of the minister for social protection concerning the suspension of disability allowance of a former prisoner, and has refused to strike down s.210(1) of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005 as unconstitutional. Delivering judgment for the High Court, Ms Just

The High Court has determined that there is no entitlement arising from EU law permitting the child of a migrant worker who has exercised their right of free movement to apply for Irish child benefit in their own capacity. Delivering judgment for the High Court, Ms Justice Marguerite Bolger confirme

Child maintenance payments are now excluded from all social welfare means tests following the commencement of new legislation. The Social Welfare and Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2024 provides for significant reforms expected to benefit over 16,000 lone parents and help to reduce child p

Law Centre NI has successfully overturned an HMRC decision on the allocation of child benefit in a case involving parents with 50/50 joint custody. The law centre took judicial review proceedings to challenge a decision by HMRC to withdraw child benefit from its client, who was in minimum wage emplo

Human rights lawyer Les Allamby has been appointed to the UK government's Social Security Advisory Committee (SSAC). Mr Allamby, a solicitor who has previously served as director of Law Centre NI and chief commissioner of the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission (NIHRC), is one of six new appoin

The Supreme Court has quashed a decision of the Minister for Social Protection to refuse to grant a widower’s contributory pension to a widowed father of three children and has declared s.124 of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005 (as amended) unconstitutional in respect of its exclusion

Lone parents will no longer have to prove they have made efforts to seek child maintenance from their child's other parent when applying for the one-parent family payment or jobseekers' transitional payment. The new regulations, signed into effect by social protection minister Heather Humphreys, fol

Legal rights group FLAC has said it is disappointed by a court decision to refuse a widower's pension to a bereaved member of a cohabiting couple with three children, who had lived together in a committed relationship for 20 years but had not married. The High Court last week refused judicial review

The European Court of Human Rights has dismissed a discrimination claim brought by an Irish man who was disqualified from receiving a State pension while he served a prison sentence in the State. The claim was based on Article 14 of the European Convention of Human Rights and concerned the operation